Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters Blog

With water temps approaching the low 70′s by mid afternoon, even the best intentions by catch and release anglers can result in disaster for our fisheries! Please do not fish on rivers like the EAST WALKER during these dog days of summer. Yes the fish will still eat in the mornings, and late evening because they have to survive, but respecting certain fisheries will help maintain the long term health and quality of our rivers. Some other options during these critical times are high alpine lakes like caples,raymond,crater,meiss meadows and showers to name a few. Certain tailwater rivers like the Little Truckee draw water from the bottom of the lake and maintain cooler temps thru these times as well as consistant hatches. So if you are out on the East carson and the water feels like a warm bath tub, maybe it’s time to call it a day? As for the fish we do catch, use extra care in releasing these fish, and do not over play them. Bring them to the net as quick as possible,leave them in the water, and make sure when you let that fish go that you have given it as much water over his gills as he needs to survive! Soon enough fall will be upon us, and 70 degree water temps will be a thing of the past. But until then, please do your part. Stop by or call the guys in the shop for current river and lake reports and water temps. Always feel free to ask our expert staff on proper catch and release techniques.

Brendan/ guide TFFO

The River originates above Leavitt Meadows, on the west side of Sonora Pass on hwy 108 below Pickel Meadows. The river flows east to hwy 395 and then north to Topaz Lake and Yerrington, where it flows north-east merging with the East Walker river and on to Walker Lake. This river seems to get overlooked a bit but always seems to fish exceptionally well, especially in the dog days of summer when our usual haunts tend be a little tough in the mid-day heat. There is a variety of water and techniques to try to fish through out the entire system. Antelope Valley in Mono county, just below the town of Walker is 35 miles south of Gardnerville and a pretty quick jaunt from South Lake. Nymphing here with bead head nymphs has been producing great numbers of wild and stocked trout and fishing with dries and dry/dropper combos will also do well. Its amazing sometimes how effective indicator nymhing can be.  If you are not proficient at high stick nymphing, getting a dead drift, mending, bumping line and having a lightning fast hook set, let one of our guides teach you the finer points of these techniques and you can become a more effective fly fisher.

Aaron Fox/guide

Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters

With the East Carson river continuing to be off color and a bit silty here are a few tips for catching more fish in these types of conditions.  Nymphing with larger dark colored flies such as AP blacks, black copper johns, dark lords, and various dark colored stone flies seem to produce more action.  Also try natural san juan worms and even some egg patterns.  This situation is a lot like what we face in the early part of the season.  Be prepared to work a piece of water with a lot of drifts since the visibility for the fish is low.  If you see fish rising sporadically, try an ant, grasshopper, or stimulator that they can see much better if they are looking up.  A client of mine caught an 18 inch rainbow on an ant yesterday right before dark. Not a lot of other bugs on the water since the spike in flow two weeks ago but hopefully this will change as the water clears.  Also, be careful as you wade in the water since there is a lot of silt that will get kicked up and it is also very slippery.

Rick McGuire/Guide

Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters

The tradition continues!  Hot Creek Ranch, outside the town of Mammoth Lakes-California, has once again hosted my kids and myself for a wonderful three days of fishing dry flies and only dry flies!  The fish were big this year and they were eating like there was no tomorrow!  The kids helped and also caught a few themselves as well as a lot of hours on the big swing in front of the cabins.  The hatches started with a Caddis migration from 8am – 11am with a few Baetis showing towards the 11am hour followed by a snooze and lunch and starting again around 2pm with the Caddis emergence.  The Caddis hatch was amazing and actually fished better in the afternoon than the morning and ended around 6pm!  The nights fished great for those that stayed out till dark with a barrage of fish eating on the surface right before dark!  With the kids I chose to hang out and eat and be merry verses fish till I dropped…  What a break/vacation!  If you ever get the chance the fish Hot Creek and you like dry fly fishing, it does not get any better!!!

Victor Babbitt

owner/guide

Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters

I recently had the opportunity to fish the Upper Truckee river.  I had great success despite the skinny water.  Most of the fish that I landed were very small, but was lucky enough to stick two fish around 8-10 inches long.  One of them being a perfect brook trout specimen.  Our tributaries can be a very rewarding and occasionally will yield a lunker trout that moved up in there to spawn out of Lake Tahoe.  All of the fish in our tributaries are wild and should be returned to the water unharmed.  Please practice barbless catch and release fishing.  If we continue taking wild trout from our waters then the future of fishing is doomed.  Numerous times this season I have heard from locals, ” the fishing isn’t as good as it was when I was a kid”.  Each time someone has said that to me they have each had stringers of wild fish that were slain where they shouldn’t have been.  This is a perfect example of cause and effect.   Sadly, this problem is nation wide, and something needs to be done!  The future of trout fishing is up to us!  Please catch and release, and report poachers to Cal Tip.  Have fun out there.  Tight Lines.

     Monday I had the opportunity to spend a day on the Little Truckee river with Albert of Las Vegas and Incline Village on his first fishing trip at 63 years of age. We enjoyed a beautiful day of  instruction on the basics of fly fishing from casting, rigging , and fighting fish. Albert was a great student who showed more interest in learning proper techniques than actually catching fish. After a couple of hours the green drakes and pmd`s started hatching.  This gave us several chances to hook fish on dries.  Several rises and grabs later, Albert is on to an acrobatic 18″ rainbow.  Patience and instruction paid off with the landing of Alberts first fish.  Way to go Albert!  Good company, fishing and the beautiful scenery of the Little Truckee river made for a great day for both Albert and myself.  As for the fishing on the Little Truckee, nymphing in the early morning is effective and then switch to pmd dries in late morning when hatch starts . 

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Pleasant Valley never ceases to amaze me.  It’s grandeur is one of the foremost in the Sierras.  I recently had the great opportunity to fish it for two days with Tim Terry and Rich Asher.  We had a great time.  The two of them have been pals for 30 years, so you can imagine the heckling and fun that was had.  They had me cracked up most of the day.  We were fishing to a large group of fish and having a rough time getting them to eat.  You could see the fish go to the nymph, practically touch it with his nose and then turn away.  Sometimes, even the indicator would twitch, yet the fish’s mouth had never opened.  I went to 6x from 5x and finally got them to start eating.  This is a tough trade off, though, as 6x with big fish is tough.  You either get them to eat and break a lot of them off or watch them  refuse the fly time after time.  I’ll choose the former any day.  So, if you know your fly is getting refusals, change the fly size, color or both and go down a size in tippet and hang on!  Great job, Tim and Rich, landing those big fish on light tippet!�

 Corey Funk/Guide

Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters

530-541-8208

It happens all of the time, yet it is still surprising when the same fly has been working for what seems like forever.  I had a guide trip on the West Carson the other day and started with the fly that had been working for weeks.  To my dismay, it wasn’t working.  It had been working regardless of time of day, hatch or no hatch, it just worked.  After mulling things over and staring at my box for a couple of minutes, a trusty regular caught my eye, The Pink Hacklestacker.  I tied it on for one of the clients and it was game on again.  We fished that pattern for the rest of the day, wrapping up around 4pm with fish still taking it!  There were no bugs about and there are still great Caddis hatches in the evenings, but the fish wanted the mayfly.  So, don’t allow yourself to get bogged down with specific patterns, open up that box and try some different flies when things aren’t going the way they should be. Have fun out there.

The flows may be getting low 30 cfs, but the fish are still very active. The key here is to find the faster moving pocket water. The fishing has been excellent from Sorenson’s resort all the way down past Woodfords. This is a place where you can fish dries all day! Adding a small beadhead dropper nymph below an attractor dry will get you plenty of action in the midday heat if the surface action slows a bit. Ask about our two hour evening dry fly trips its a lot of fun.

Aaron Fox/Guide

Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters

530-541-8208

I spent the morning with two great guys on the East Carson, Jayden and his grandfather Jay.  It was Jayden’s first fly fishing trip and being only 7 years old, the youngest client I’ve ever had.  He picked up casting incredibly fast and is one skilled fisherman when it comes to fighting fish.  He was able to land three and had a few more on.  We had the most success drifting and swinging nymphs through the riffles.  There seem to be a lot of fish in the faster moving water due to the high temperatures and these areas are usually left alone by the spin fishermen.  Swinging flies is a great way to catch fish on a fly rod and it is easy to do.  Try this technique using small pheasant tails, copper johns, and hares ears in sizes 16 and 18.   Jayden was also extremely patient for a guy his age and is a good example of how to catch more fish.  Be persistent and don’t give up.  Thanks again Jay and Jayden for an awesome morning.